To ask for interview advice?

[Otterses]

Shamelessly posting for traffic.

I've got an interview on Wednesday. It's for a stepping stone kind of role into my dream job, so I'm already piling the pressure on myself a bit. This'll be the first interview I've had in two years.

I didn't realise how low my confidence is until I started to prepare, I'm finding answering standard questions tough.

I've had a rough couple of years with workplace bullying and maternity discrimination, and I'm being made redundant next Friday. It's left me feeling a bit well, worthless. I'm really struggling to see why anyone would want to employ me. I just don't know what's happened to me, I used to be so bubbly, energetic and happy. Now I just feel frumpy and mumsy with nothing to offer

I may be a bit beyond help! Bit any interview tips would be greatly appreciated. Please help me turn this around in the next two days.

OK, you're definitely not worthless and I am sure you will have plenty of reasons as to why someone would want to employ you.

Tips for the interview - I would sit down and think about all of your skills and good qualities. Everything, whether it seems silly and small, or really big and key for the role (this might help boost your confidence a bit as well). Then think about why those skills/qualities are going to be useful in this role - make yourself some notes next to each one. Then see if you can think of examples of when you've used that skill or demonstrated that quality. Don't get too caught up in the standard interview questions - most of them are basically about understanding what your skills are/how you would handle certain situations - so if you're clear in your mind about what those are, its a lot easier to come up with answers that allow you to demonstrate them.

I'd also try and think of some instances where things went wrong and you learnt something/changed the way you did things as a result.

Don't be afraid to take notes in with you - I'd avoid sitting reading out of a notepad, but having something you can glance at/refer to if you get stuck can give you a little bit of extra confidence.

Think of some good questions to ask them at the end - I like getting asked interesting questions, ones around why I like working for the company or what the biggest challenge you could expect to face if you got the role - it shows that you're interested in finding out whether its a good fit for you as well as vice versa.

Have they told you what type of interview it will be? i.e. Competency Based Interview, any assessment/testing involved etc? What type of role is it?

What kind of things that you can do for about an hour make you feel good about yourself that are accessible? Go and do that for an hour tomorrow. The idea is to help change your mood and make you feel good about yourself. If you feel good about yourself you will give that vibe out to the interviewer.

Also you are going to interview them as well as just answer questions. As you have been bullied you don't want to find yourself in a company where people are just as nasty so prepare to have a conversation with them as well as answer questions.

You want to know about their work environment. Is there anything on their website that gives you a clue about this? If so mention it and extend it into a couple of questions. As you are having a conversation make sure you listen to the answers.

If you can't think of any questions and it isn't an interview panel then ask the interviewer about themselves. How long have they worked for the company? What do they like about the working environment? Remember listen to their answers.

I'm so sorry I didn't get back on here! Thank you all so much for your advice.

...

I GOT IT!

Congratulations!!

That's wonderful!! Congratulations!

Well done!!! 🏆

That's great new OP.
Well done.
Hopefully you can start to rebuild your self-esteem and find your 'adult self' again.
Good luck!